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Showing posts from April, 2017

Kestrel Eggs Appearing in Ulster County

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Yesterday was my day to make the rounds of the nest boxes and check for eggs. Since rain was forecasted for today (correctly) and I hadn't checked most boxes for about 10 days, I needed to see nest contents before clutches were complete, which typically takes 9 days. I was really hoping for eggs and was not disappointed. Five of the boxes had either one or two eggs. Here's what the inside of three boxes looked like yesterday:  The female from the box with two eggs likely began laying, at the earliest, on 20 April. An average clutch is 5 eggs, so if she lays one egg every other day, her clutch should be complete around 29 April and her eggs should hatch sometime around 1 June (incubation takes about a month). Box checks with incomplete clutches are ideal, because now I know roughly when incubation will start and the eggs will hatch. If my first look at eggs was of a complete clutch, the female could have completed yesterday or a week ago...not ideal. I

Shawanagunk Grasslands Kestrel Density

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The Shawangunk Grasslands NWR (SGNWR) outside of Shawangunk, NY. is a gem of open country habitat that is locally and regionally important for many bird species. Most of its 597 acres (~240 hectares for the metric savvy) are grasslands, which is in short supply in the northeastern US. Bobolinks, Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrows are threatened nesters. Upland Sandpipers stop here annually during spring migration. Short-eared Owls and Northern Harriers form impressive winter concentrations. It is simply THE place to go in the immediate area to see Short-eared Owls. The refuge was established in 1999 after conversion from a military airfield and is designated an Important Bird Area by Audubon NY. It is definitely worth a visit. For more information, see https://www.fws.gov/refuge/shawangunk_grasslands/about.html This vital patch of habitat was the foundation for the kestrel nest box project. I noticed the boxes on my first visit in November 2015 and learned that the boxes were occ

Box Occupancy Update, Landowners and first Male capture

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Male at Whitecliff Vineyards. Gardiner, NY It's still early days, but the nest boxes are filling up fast. Kestrels are on the move throughout the eastern US and I'm finding birds all over Ulster County. Of the 25 boxes being monitored for this project, fourteen are currently occupied by at least one kestrel. I'm sure some of the birds I'm seeing are migrants simply popping up in open habitat...a nice confirmation that I'm putting boxes in suitable areas. Once the migrants move out the picture will be clearer. Recent kestrel box install. Gardiner, NY. Cooper's hawk plucking post is in right foreground One of the joys of this project has been meeting several local landowners. Ulster County is largely rural with many farms, ranches, vineyards and orchards. Many of the folks hosting kestrel boxes are genuinely interested in coexisting with wildlife on their lands. One of my major goals with monitoring kestrels at nest boxes is building this network and

Kestrels in Ulster County, NY. - Start of 2017 Breeding Season

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American Kestrel ( Falco sparverius ) populations in the northeastern US have undergone significant declines over the past few decades. Both migration counts and breeding data are trending downward and the reasons are not well understood. Throughout much of the northeast, open habitats are reverting to forest, which is decreasing the available breeding habitat for kestrels. Additionally, natural nest sites are at a premium since kestrels need cavities  surrounded by open habitat. Nest boxes compensate for this nest-site scarcity and the birds often prefer them when available. In 2016 I initiated intensive monitoring of several nest boxes in Ulster County, NY. Six boxes are located on the Shawangunk Grasslands NWR (SGNWR) northwest of Walkill and one is located on the Mohonk Preserve west of New Paltz. The SGNWR boxes have been regularly monitored in recent years, but no concrete data on reproductive success have been collected. I visited boxes at least every two weeks fro